LANSING, Mich. –\u00a0 At least a dozen employees at the Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America headquarters in Lansing have said they\u2019ve been unfairly required to report to work during the pandemic. The common thread: They\u2019re all members of UAW Amalgamated Local No. 2256.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vast majority of us are union members. That seems to be the only justification,\u201d one Accident Fund employee told City Pulse under the condition she could remain anonymous. \u201cMost of the higher-ups, the bosses, have all been working from home since the early spring.\u201d<\/p>\n
State officials last month received at least two employee complaints from Accident Fund, a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan headquartered on Grand Avenue in downtown Lansing. The allegation: Hundreds of employees are being illegally called into work every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re averaging a new COVID-19 case there every single day,\u201d said another Accident Fund employee, who has also been granted anonymity for this story. \u201cSometimes there are two or three cases reported in a day. They\u2019ve moved us around and spaced us apart, but I\u2019d still say that 75% of the people coming into the building everyday should not be required to come in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the latest emergency epidemic orders from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, all work should be done from home unless it is \u201cstrictly necessary\u201d for an employee to be in the office. That carve-out also shouldn\u2019t be construed as permitting in-person work only because remote options are inconvenient or costly, according to state officials.<\/p>\n
Emails obtained by City Pulse showed that the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration followed up last month on one complaint at Accident Fund that alleged it was unnecessary for hundreds of employees \u2014 mostly union members \u2014 to come into the office.<\/p>\n
State officials, at the time, deemed the Accident Fund to be \u201cmedium or lower exposure risk\u201d and opted against a physical inspection, emails showed. They also provided a list of suggestions and \u201csteps you need to take if the allegations are true, so you can prevent your employees from contracting coronavirus and are in compliance with our regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n
A state spokesperson confirmed that at least one more staff complaint has since been filed but declined to provide additional information, except to note that state officials are still processing complaints \u201cas quickly as possible\u201d amid a growing backlog of workplace safety allegations.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, corporate officials at Accident Fund have refused to shed light on workplace practices, noting only that 60% of the staff has been allowed to work from home since March and that they will continue to \u201cmaintain and adjust\u201d procedures as necessary to ensure safety.<\/p>\n
Calls to union leadership at UAW Local No. 2256 \u2014 which represents claims and customer service representatives, information technology staff, business analysts, fraud investigators, mailroom staff and maintenance staff at Accident Fund \u2014 were not returned.<\/p>\n
Several employees have said that Accident Fund\u2019s policies only mirror that of its parent company, Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan and BCBSM\u2019s office on Capitol Avenue in Lansing.<\/p>\n
Officials there said the vast majority of the 160 staffers reporting to work are union members.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just so happens that in our operational areas and in our customer service areas, the employees in those areas are represented collectively by the UAW,\u201d explained Andy Hetzel, vice president for communications for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. \u201cThat\u2019s just how it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s more about coincidence than intentionally sending the union to the frontline, Hetzel said.<\/p>\n
Only about 1,600 of 7,500 employees still report to the office across the Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan network, including half the staff of its Lansing offices, Hetzel said. And he said that staff has been deemed \u201cnecessary\u201d to ensure that $72 million in claims can be processed daily.<\/p>\n
Hetzel wouldn\u2019t elaborate on practices at Accident Fund, but the union-backed staff at Blue Cross Blue Shield is also about ensuring private customer data remains secure, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur facilities, our building, our IT infrastructure and our proprietary membership systems are all configured to ensure the safe handling of members\u2019 protected healthcare information,\u201d Hetzel added. \u201cOur offices and our facilities provide a secure environment to process that information.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hetzley said he wasn\u2019t surprised to hear about employee complaints, insisting that each of them will be addressed as quickly as possible. How will they be addressed? He declined to elaborate, also noting that BCBSM has no immediate plans to change its current work-from-home policies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s understandable in this environment, where you don\u2019t necessarily know where the virus is lurking, that people would be concerned about anytime they venture out \u2014 whether that\u2019s for work or the grocery store,\u201d Hetzel added. \u201cWe\u2019re still taking every precaution. There\u2019s an assumption that you go to a certain place, you get sick. That\u2019s an invalid assumption.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, several employees are \u201cfed up\u201d with the disparate treatment for union staff, they argued. And they\u2019re hoping a series of complaints to MIOSHA will trigger more rapid state intervention.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve brought these complaints through every rung of the corporate ladder,\u201d one Accident Fund employee told City Pulse this week. \u201cNothing is changing. It\u2019s going absolutely nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prior to the pandemic, MIOSHA received an average of 200 monthly complaints and tracked a response time of about five days. Since March, the agency has fielded 11,000 complaints \u2014 including 2,800 in November. The backlog is leading to some processing delays, officials said.<\/p>\n
Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail also said she has no authority over the recent complaints against Accident Fund. Companies can have several reasons for determining which employees must report to work. And the Health Department isn\u2019t prepared to evaluate them, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s MIOSHA,\u201d Vail said. \u201cNot my call to second guess their workflow and processes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LANSING, Mich. –\u00a0 At least a dozen employees at the Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America headquarters in…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n